Corrosive Healing
by Kareninas
Summary: Max comes to find a companion, and through their trying adventure, she helps him heal, no matter how much it hurts. Max/OC


**So this prologue is quite long and spans over the gist of Fury Road. I did cut out parts and change some things to my own liking but this is basically just introducing you to my OC so that I can get into my own Mad adventure.**

 **I do not take any credit for the world of Max Rockatansky, I just figured I would write out what I think should happen.**

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This wasteland only takes.

It will take the clothes from your back. The oxygen from your lungs. Even what makes you human. There's a reason nobody is afraid of hell anymore, and that is because hell would be an upgrade.

I've been traveling these parts for the past decade, looking for the edge. Hoping to all things good that if I'm smart enough, persistent enough, I'll find a way out. I've managed to survive this long and the only thing this wasteland hasn't taken from me is my hope and the will to survive.

I've been holed up in this sand cave for hours, waiting for the storm to pass so that I can get the hell out of here. I had heard them coming towards me some time ago now. The war parties, and from what I had seen, a majority of them had been killed by the elements. The sand was settling down now and figured it was time to make my way.

As I walked through the debris, I didn't expect to find anything useful but couldn't wipe the grin from my face when I saw the bag full of ammunition, weapons and at least two and a half litres of water. I secured eight throwing knives to my belt and put two of the fully loaded guns into the empty holsters around my thighs. I decided that the hunting knife wasn't anywhere near as sharp as the one I already had so I left it in the bag. There was a machete that I secured to my back that was easily accessible and ready for some action.

Off in the distance I noticed someone getting up from the sand and picking up another person to sling over their shoulder. He had done some other things but I was too far away to see. Against my better judgement, I decided to follow. Maybe there was a vehicle that I could steal wherever he was going. After about an hour of walking he came across a large tanker war machine. Getting closer and hiding behind a rock I saw him startle a group of women. They all looked so clean and beautiful. He held them at gun point while they gave him water and cut what appeared to be a chain connecting him to the person he had been lugging over his shoulder. Watching it play out, trying to determine if I should intervene, they fought. Each one vying for the upper hand. Near the end, he was going to hop in the tanker and speed off before pointing the gun at a pregnant woman. _It's now or never._ I hadn't decided if he was good or bad, but I had decided he was desperate.

Removing one of my guns, I took aim and fired right next to his head. It had surely sent him for a loop as he started waving the gun around at people, trying to decipher who had shot at him. I stepped out from the rock and kept the gun on him.

"Nobody move!" They all turned to me as I made eye contact with only the man I had the gun pointed at. He kept his on me as well. I heard the war parties getting close. If this wasn't resolved, we would all soon find ourselves quite dead. "All of you, get in the tanker and move out. Can't fight war parties on foot." They all looked at me even though I still only looked at him. And damn, was he something good to look at.

"And who exactly are you?" One of the women said.

"Doesn't matter. Only thing that does is that I am just as desperate as all of you. Now get in and let's get moving. We've already established that none of us are ruthless killers so let's move past the idle threats and pointless aggression." The only one who seemed to listen was the man with the cage around his face. He started manhandling the girls into the truck and the woman, who I now noticed had a prosthetic arm, helped.

Once we were all in, I looked out the window and noticed the war parties gaining on us while we moved toward the canyon.

"What are your names?" The woman spoke up.

I just looked at her and went back to watching our backs. I heard the man grunt, and decided that is exactly what I would call him. After some shuffling around I heard the sound of metal grinding and looked over to see that Grunt still had his gun out and was directing the girls to cut the cage off while they grumbled and griped about him.

 _These girls don't understand just how valuable numbers are._

 _ **You don't know anything about these girls, now shut it.**_

 _I know that they're much to snooty to realize what it's like out on the road._

Deciding to just ignore the voices in my head, I started listening to the real voices in the truck while I started getting ready for the fight. He seemed to have the same idea. The war parties were getting closer and they'd catch up in no time.

"Imperator Furiosa, by the way."

"Toast." The short haired girl spoke up when she noticed the woman introduce herself.

"Toast the knowing." The little blonde one spoke up as the short haired girl glared daggers. She also introduced herself along with the other girls whose names I forgot as I heard them.

 _Toast, Cheedo, Dag, Capable, and Splendid. Remember them. They are your cause._ The annoying voice in my head chimed. I would remember Toast and Splendid though. They had a fight in 'em. Not like the other ones who just looked afraid. One of them went as far to say that Immortan Joe would take them back if they just returned, whichever one they were. And I didn't know who Immortan Joe was but I suspected he was one of the people after them, leading the war parties.

Looking forward, we were arriving at the canyon. Furiosa turned to us and told us all to keep our heads down and to keep unnoticed. Furiosa got out and started talking to the people hiding around us. They were yelling about petrol and war parties and I could only see things going downhill from there. I looked at Grunt and we both nodded readying our weapons. It was an unspoken agreement that we would do our best to keep the girls alive and kicking. At that exact moment, the man Grunt had been carrying made an appearance from the hole below causing one of the girls to scream. He was screaming and ranting things that I couldn't possibly begin to understand as we kicked him out of the hole and he was gone.

Furiosa hopped back in the truck and started it up, taking off out of the canyon while we fought off the encroachers. _The big gas tank._ As always, the voice in my head gave me an idea. Crawling out of the hole and climbing down the body of the truck, hacking at people coming at me with my machete, I headed towards the tank. When I finally made it there, I detached the gas and watched it as it stopped right underneath an overhang. Making my way back, I shot at a few motorists and made it to the perch up top before using the rifle in my bag to shoot the tank as the war parties neared so I could buy some time. Hitting the bulls-eye, I watched as it exploded and brought the overhang and parts of the cliffs down, effectively blocking the path for our pursuers.

When I made it back to the cab of the truck, I noticed the grim faces and that something was missing. _Splendid._ I almost wanted to ask but Furiosa spoke first.

"You saw the wheels go right over her?" Her voice sounded like it was going to break.

Grunt did what he did best, and grunted while he nodded the affirmative. What happened next caught me off guard. He started smacking his head and mumbling incoherencies. I realized then that he might be a little mad just like me. I was not sympathetic and refused to feel pity, but it had to stop for the good of the people left. I crawled up and motioned Furiosa to the back. We swapped seats and I turned to Grunt and put my hand on his shoulder causing him to whip his head toward me. I gave him a levelling look and he seemed to comprehend that he was doing something that he shouldn't be. I grabbed the steering wheel when I noticed he wasn't watching the road as he kept his eyes on me.

"I couldn't save them. I couldn't save her." He whispered. His voice was hoarse as most were in the wasteland. At least it was for the travellers.

I looked right back into his eyes and spoke the words that kept me going everyday. "No, you couldn't. But just because you can't save everybody, doesn't mean you can't save anybody." He kept staring at me as if to see if I was telling the truth, and when he decided I was, he turned back and I let go of the wheel. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back to see Furiosa nod her head at me.

"So what are we going to call you guys?" Furiosa spoke up, seemingly determined to find out our names.

The man just grunted in response and that seemed to spark the same idea that I had. Toast spoke up. "We'll call him Grunt."

I heard a few giggles and noticed him not even seem fazed.

"We'll call you Lux." I froze as I heard the name. My blood ran cold and my skin crawled. Furiosa seemed to notice this but Toast did not. "It's a pretty tattoo." I noticed that my jacket must have come off while fighting to get the tank off as I was rather exposed. I had the leather armour as usual but it did not cover my arms or my lower back where straps crisscrossed and left the tattoo on display. My entire body was covered in ink, from my neck to my ankles. _Why did she have to notice that one._

Deciding I didn't want to hear them say it, I responded. "It is most certainly not Lux and I will surely appreciate it when you never say that name again."

"Well what shall we call you?"

I didn't respond.

"Silent?" Toast suggested. I pondered it for a moment and then decided that I didn't really care, so long as it wasn't Lux.

We drove for a while longer before some more men came at us, but there weren't many. Max continued driving while Furiosa and I hacked at and shot at our opponents. At some point, Toast had crawled out and went up to the perch above where the rifle was, taking out as many as she could. Once it calmed down, we all returned back into the cab including the seemingly distraught war boy from earlier who still seemed to have a chain around him. Grunt held his gun at him but Toast wouldn't have any of it. She was yelling at Grunt and eventually he pulled his gun away while the stupid girl cut the chains off of him.

"His name is Nux." I just nodded and then looked away. Grunt made his signature sound and Furiosa just shook her head.

When we drove through a strange swamp, we saw people on stilts and crows flying through the sky.

 _It may be wet here, but its just as destroyed as everywhere else._

 _ **Shut up. At least you can hide here.**_

Shutting out the voices in my head, I motioned to Grunt to stop. We all got out and decided it was a good time to stretch and drink. It smelled like decaying flesh and there were many cars stuck in the mud and the men on stilts walking in the fog, trying to keep an eye on us.

"Toast, see what we have for weapons. Count the ammo as well." Furiosa barked. And then she turned to me. "So where were you going, when you came across us?" She made no attempt to hide that she didn't trust me. And I didn't try to hide the fact that I didn't care about her. She was one of the few, the innocent girls were the many and I would always take care of the many before the few. Hell, I was one of the few as well. I just shrugged at her. I never had a destination and was never much one for lying regardless. If I grow to trust her, maybe I'll talk to her about my plans, but that didn't seem to be happening any time soon.

Toast interrupted. "We're low on pretty much everything!" I looked to her and threw my bag towards her. She took a peek in it and saw all the weapons before scrambling back to see what we had now.

Grunt brushed past and looked at me. "Stay here, I'll get more." With that he turned his head and started to jog away. After a few moments, we heard some noises and something exploding before he came back with a large amount of weapons slung all over him. I smiled and nodded at him and he stopped. He gestured to his fares and looked at me. "I did good?"

"Yes."

For a moment, I could have sworn I saw him smile but he took off towards where Toast was counting the weapons and dropped them at her feet before stalking away. _That was weird._ _ **He was probably just wondering if we needed more.**_

"He seems to like you." Furiosa broke me out of my thoughts.

"He doesn't like me. He respects me. It's how it works with us. The travellers. The ones of us who have no clan."

"But he seeks your approval."

That had me stumped. Until the voices in my head brought up a valid, if not strange point.

"Since we hopped on with you guys, we have worked together. We stay on the same page and nobody gets hurt. And we don't take a liking to people, we just work with them when needed to survive."

Furiosa scrunched up her face. "But you don't talk…"

"I'm talking right now, aren't I? I just choose not to answer your questions."

"I meant you don't speak to Grunt." Furiosa shook her head.

I let out a chuckle and it was my turn to shake my head. "You don't always need to use words to talk." With that said, I walked back and hopped up in the cab to wait for the rest so we could head out.

After another few hours, Furiosa was getting agitated. "We were supposed to be at the green place by now!" And just as she said that, we came into view of what was obviously a trap, but Furiosa stopped anyways. Grunt and I got out behind her, weapons ready while we listened to Furiosa explain who she was. All of a sudden, the girl on top of the large contraption started climbing down and running towards her while a few motorcycles came out from behind the dunes. We were on edge even as we watched them all embrace. The girls started climbing out of the cab and watched with us as someone said something to Furiosa and she dropped to her knees, apparently crying. I looked over to Grunt and he looked back.

We felt pity. Clearly these women were who we were searching for but there was nothing green anywhere. Something suddenly became clear. I walked over to the crying woman and put my hand on her shoulder. The swamp.

A couple hours later, we all went to sleep. Well the girls did, I just rested. I found it especially odd when Grunt came and laid down about five feet away from me even though I made sure to lay a good twenty feet away from everybody else.

 _Maybe Furiosa was right. Maybe he does like you._

 _ **There is no way that's true. He probably just wants someone hardened at his back.**_

 _Keep making excuses. You know the truth._

For the millionth time, I shut out the voices and looked up at the sky. I thought about Lux. She was everything to me. She was like a sister, we had both been bought and sold from slaver to slaver, never leaving the others side. We were a duo and nothing would change that. But something did change. She died. We were bought and put in an arena and forced to kill each other off to entertain a particularly psychotic clan. The only reason I do what I do today is because of her. I escaped shortly after she was killed in that arena. I remember turning around to check on her only to trip over her severed head.

I was brought out of my painful memories when I noticed the sun starting to rise. Grunt followed right after and we woke everyone else up. We needed a plan. Furiosa had decided we should keep going the way we were headed, hoping to all hope that they could find someplace safe from Immortan Joe. I looked at the map and an idea sprung into my head. I grabbed Grunts arm to get his attention and motioned at the place on the map. He seemed to realise what my intentions were and smirked.

"Furiosa!" She turned to look at me and I almost had to chuckle at the old ladies expressions as they realised my ability to talk.

"What is it?"

"We should turn back. Go back to where you came from."

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Back to Immortan Joe? Are you crazy? We're all going to get killed if we go back!"

I sucked in a deep breath and explained. "Not if we take him out first. If we can take out Immortan Joe and get there, the place is practically unguarded. There is water, food, gas. Everything you need, and the people there need a good leader, and that leader is you."

Apparently I was making sense because she smiled and turned around and voiced the new plan to everybody. We were all in agreement and as we went to load up, Grunt grabbed my arm to halt me. I turned to look at him and saw something in his face that wasn't there before, although I wasn't quite sure what it was. And then he said something that travellers just don't say.

"My name is Max."

I heard everyone turn to look at the exchange. Him still holding my arm and me staring at him intently. I then noticed what it was in his face that I saw. It was trust. It was companionship. It was terrifying but for some reason I found it oddly comforting all the same. So I took a step forward and nodded.

"My name is Roe."

* * *

We had made it back. Immortan Joe is dead. One of the girls as well, although which one, I have no idea of her name. Max and I stood looking at the girls and Furiosa as the crowd cheered and she released the water. She had told us that there would always be a place here for us to rest our head, but she knew we were leaving. What I didn't expect was for Max and I to leave together. We walked through the crowd ready for our next cause, in silent agreement that we were going together. We had each others backs. We still didn't talk much but that would change. Many things already had.

I looked over at him, he had a slight grin to his face and a skip in his step. I had a feeling there was much more to our story than we could ever expect.

 **There it is! Let me know what you think!**


End file.
